LAPT Peru: Debar dominates, Barbero seeks third title

The tournament flow has resembled the traffic here in Lima. Fast and dangerous with lots of gas.

We got down to our final table in just about four full levels of play today. There were 24 players that took a seat in the tournament area at noon today, only 2 minutes were left in Level 17. Now, the tournament clock has stopped again. It's only gone up to Level 22 and there are still 12 minutes left on it.

During the first level of play, there weren't many eliminations. But a storm was brewing. Maxence Debar and Oscar Barriga started amassing giant stacks. By the first break, the two players had accumulated nearly one-third of the chips in play.

Oscar Barriga

Then there was pure carnage.

Players were eliminated every few minutes and Debar pulled away from Barriga. After making the call of his life, Debar will start the final table with a massive 2.1 million chip lead.

Final table chip leader, Maxence Debar

Debar brought us down to 10 players and we quickly got to 9. Then the final table bubble burst just as fast.

A few minutes after the final nine players made it to the unofficial final table, Sebastián Miranda moved all-in.

Miranda was the shortstack and moved all-in from the button. Oscar Barriga folded from the small blind and Jorge Gonzales called the 200,000 bet from the big blind.

Miranda turned over A♣3♣ while Gonzales showed A♣J♥.

The board came Q♥Q♦6♥4♣5♠ and Miranda was eliminated in 9th place, earning $15,440.

Final table bubble, Sebastián Miranda

This leaves a final table with two Argentinians, two Venezuelans, one Peruvian, one Mexican, one Panamian and one Frenchman.

Representing the local population is Oscar Barriga, our start-of-day chip leader. He'll start the final table second in chips with 1.25 million.

Another player at the final table is a man looking to make history. Team PokerStars Pro Jose "Nacho" Barbero, has made his fourth LAPT final table and is looking for his third LAPT win.

Nacho Barbero, in the hunt for number three

Barbero made his first final table at Argentina in Season 2, before he was a Team Pro. There, he was the first player out and finished 9th for $28,220.

But after Barbero was bestowed with the sticky honor of a Team Pro arm patch, Barbero won every LAPT final table he's made. The Argentinian Team Pro will start the final table 7th in chips with 583,000.

Also making the final table is one of our featured expats. Not one of the post-Black Friday expats though; the original expat, the grizzled veteran, Brent Sheirbon.

Sheirbon at the final table

After moving to Costa Rica in 2006, Sheirbon took up residence in Panama in 2007 and has been there ever since. Sheirbon has now learned the ways of the Latin American people.

At least at the poker table.

This is Sheirbon's second LAPT final table. Back in Season 2, Sheirbon made the final table of LAPT San Jose, where he finished 3rd for $109,913.

Play will resume at 12:00pm ET tomorrow and it won't stop until we have a champion. Our remaining 8 players are all guaranteed $20,130, but they're all hunting for the top prize of $187,300.

The chips are all bagged up now, but when players come back to 10,000/20,000 blinds tomorrow, they'll take this seating arrangement: